if not here
then where
would i be?
shifting across histories
i never heard
the chains rattle
never felt the lash
thrashing ocean
sinking flesh torn
from ancient land
my body never knew
the name
i was separated
from…
i
search the faces
coming toward me
on any street in these
united states of ambiguity
half expecting to find
a familiar stranger
to claim me
rising from south
west east north
i
a living ghost
walking across paved over fields
hiding in plain sight
my anguish terror
layered
just below the surface
of skin…
a legacy passed on
unanswered
if not here
in the falsehood of amerika
then where who
would i be
had there been no shifting
across
histories
my body never knew?